"If we don't count the default, I have lost only one match this year" - Djokovic believes the 2020 season has been one of the best years in his career

World No.1 Novak Djokovic has had a very successful season this year, leading the ATP with a 37-2 win-loss record. He has underlined this performance with four titles, which include the 2020 Australian Open and two ATP Masters 1000 events, in Cincinnati and Rome.

However, his two defeats have been notable in that he lost one to Rafael Nadal in a lop-sided Roland Garros final. The other came after he was defaulted his fourth round match at the US Open, as a result of him unintentionally striking a lines judge with a ball. Nonetheless, the Serbian remains in good spirits as he addressed various topics in an extensive interview in Belgrade on Thursday.

“There is a little regret because I have not won a trophy in New York or Paris since I have been in extraordinary form for both," Djokovic stated during the interview. "At the French Open I have had a much better opponent in the finals and I was not at my level. In New York there was this unfortunate incident, but I have won both Cincinnati and Rome.”

“If we don’t count the default, I have lost only one match this year, so I am free to say that I am maybe playing the tennis of my life. The season is what it is, with the break and everything, but I have won a lot of matches, so I can compare this year with 2011 and 2015."

The 17-time Grand Slam champion also addressed his goals for the rest of the year, with his aim being to secure the year-end No.1 ranking for a record-equaling sixth time. He is set to play two more tournaments this year with the first being at next week's Vienna Open. Having opted to skip the Paris Masters, the 33-year old will then head to London for the season-ending ATP Finals.

“The goals are clear – I want to end the year as No 1 and I want to have as big an advantage as possible for the first three months of 2021, which would allow me the historic No 1, one of the two biggest goals in my career.”

In addition to his goals for the rest of the year, the Serbian also backed up his stance on replacing lines judges with technology. This was carried out for the first time at the 2020 US Open, where Hawk-Eye Live was used to make lines calls instead of humans.

"I have received a lot of criticism because I have said that we should take into consideration excluding the line umpires," Djokovic explained. "That is an opinion I have had for several years now, it did not have anything to do with me being disqualified at the US Open.”

“We have seen that technology in New York for the first time and it went smoothly, there was no room for human error. I am not a person who adores technology and cannot live without it, in some regards technocratic society has gone too far in my opinion, but if we in tennis can be more efficient and precise, why not? For people who volunteer as line umpires we would find other roles within the organization of tournaments. In this particular matter I think that we should use technology.”